Petition text:We, the undersigned, welcome the development of a Business
Case for the re-opening of Carno station, following Carno Station
Action Group’s petition to the Assembly 10 years ago. We note
that the revised Business Case demonstrates a ratio of benefits to
costs of 1.65 and that the stopping of most trains at Carno is
compatible with the existing enhanced timetable. Carno is a
relatively remote community on the longest stretch of railway
without an intermediate station in the whole of Wales and a station
here would open up dramatically improved, sustainable access to
jobs and services. We therefore call on the National Assembly for
Wales to urge the Welsh Government to reopen Carno station within a
5 year timescale.

Background

The former Carno railway station in Powys, on the
Cambrian Line between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth, closed in the
1960s. Carno Station Action Group was established in 2002 as
a sub-committee of Carno Community Council to campaign for the
station to be reopened. The history of the campaign is
summarised on the group’s
website[MA(-RS1].

Rail infrastructure investment is not devolved and
the main statutory powers and duties rest with the Secretary of
State for Transport. However, the Welsh Government has powers under
the Railways Act 2005 (‘the 2005 Act’) to invest
in rail infrastructure, including stations.

The Cabinet Secretary’s letter to the Chair
regarding this petition highlights the fact that “the Welsh
Government receives no funding from the UK Government for new rail
infrastructure through its core block
grant”.

Welsh Government action

The Welsh Government’s
National Transport Finance Plan[ES2] (NTFP) commits to
“develop assessment criteria and, using those criteria, a
prioritised list of new station proposals for further consideration
[in relation to securing funding from the rail industry]”.
Carno station is listed in the NTFP as a station that will be
assessed as part of this process (NTFP Reference RI10).

The regional stations identified for further
[stage 2] assessment were the ones that scored the highest across
all the…criteria tested.

While Carno station was not included on the Cabinet
Secretary’s prioritised list, Bow Street Station in
Ceredigion was due to progress. However, in July 2017 the
Department for Transport (DfT) announced[MA(-RS6] nearly £4
million towards the development of Bow Street.

The Cabinet Secretary’s letter to the Chair
on this petition says:

In Mid Wales, Bow Street was due to be
progressed under this process. However, with the success of
the bid for development funding (under the Department for
Transport’s New Station Fund), it will no longer be taken
forward under the assessment process….. This development has
allowed me to include Carno in the current round of stage 2
assessment. This involves obtaining information from Network
Rail on deliverability and operational considerations on the
prioritised stations. In addition, a standard assessment
model is being run to assess the anticipated demand at the proposed
stations.

I have asked my officials to engage with the
Carno Station Action Group as this stage 2 process
progresses.

National Assembly for Wales action

As the petition suggests, a previous petition
calling for Carno Station to be reopened was considered in 2007 by
the Petitions Committee in the Third Assembly.

As part of that Committee’s consideration the
petition was referred to the then Enterprise and Learning
Committee, which undertook a short inquiry. While not
expressly recommending that the station be reopened, the Committee
asked that the Welsh Government “provide support to the Carno
Station Action Group in developing and submitting a formal business
case for such a station”. The response from the then
Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport,
Ieuan Wyn Jones, considered that the issue was best taken forward
through TraCC, the then Mid-Wales Regional Transport
Consortium.

In closing that petition, the then Chair of the
Committee wrote to the petitioners in December 2007 to say:

The Committee agreed with the response from
the Minister that the best way forward for the community would
be:

-
future working with TRaCC (Trafnidiaeth Canolbarth Cymru) to ensure
that that the business case for the station would meet technical
criteria; and

-
inclusion as a priority in the forthcoming regional transport
plan.

The proposal to reopen the station was raised
periodically through the Fourth Assembly before the submission of
this petition in the current Assembly.

Every effort is made to ensure that the information
contained in this briefing is correct at the time of publication.
Readers should be aware that these briefings are not necessarily
updated or otherwise amended to reflect subsequent changes.